Postpositions in Malayalam

Malayalam is a Dravidian language used predominantly in the state of Kerala, in

southern India. It is one of the 22 official languages in India, and it is used by around 36

million people. Malayalam is also widely used in the union territories of Lakshadweep and Mahe. Malayalam follows a ‘Subject Object verb(SOV)’ word order.

This paper focuses on the concept of postpositions in Malayalam and test the hypothesis that they are in fact noun phrases. It has been observed that almost all postpositions in Malayalam function as case endings. It has also been noticed that the postpositions carry semantic information abut the relationship between two nouns and between nouns and verbs. Postpositions in Malayalam occur after the nominal. They perform similar to inflectional markers. But unlike inflectional markers, postpositions in Malayalam are free forms. Being invariants, they can stand alone or alongside another free or bound morpheme.

Eg: Avante jeevithathil ninnu othiri padikaan undu

He+poss Life+gen case from much learn is

(There is much to learn from his life)

When we speak about postpositions, it is necessary to mention that Malayalam has bound postpositions as well. But in this paper, we are concerned only about the free postpositions. Although all the postpositions in Malayalam are invariants normally, they tend to be variants when negates.

If we classify Malayalam postpositions according to the cases their preceeding nouns take, it will be as follows: (with their English correspondences)

NOMINATIVE / ACCUSATIVE / GENITIVE / POSSESIVE
OR
DATIVE / DATIVE
Koodathe- apart from, / Patti-about / Koode-with / Mukalil-on/above / Vendi-for
Maari-off / Kurichu-about / Nadukku-between,amidst / Kuruke-across / Pakaram-in place of
Ozhichu-except for / Poole-as,like / Chuttum-around / Aduthu-adjacent
Munpu/pinpu-before / Purakil-behind / Ethire-against
Sambandichu-according to / Adiyil-under / Idayil-between
Ozhichu-except for / Thaazhe-below / Shesham-after
Arikil-beside / Appuram-beyond
Purathu-on / Munpe-prior to
Munnil-in front of
Ullil-in
Akathu-in

Apart from these there are a few postpositions which comes only after nouns which denotes place or time. They are :

  1. Muthal - from
  2. Thottu - from
  3. Ninnu - from
  4. vare - to/till

Eg: Hyderabad muthal Mumbai vare samaram aanu

Hyderabad from Mumbai till strike be

It is strike fromHyderabadtill mumbai

Examples for postpositions comes after the nouns which takes different cases:

Nominative:

  1. sita koodathe ramanum varum

sita apart from ram+also come+future

Apart from sita, ram also will come

  1. vazhi maari sancharikkuka

way off walk

Walk off the way

  1. john ozhichu ellavarum vannu

john except all come+past

All except John came

Accusative

  1. ramane patti sita ennodu paranju.

Ram+acc about sita me+to tell+past

Sita told me about ram.

  1. njaan prashnangale kurichu kettu

I problems+acc about hear+past

I heard about the problems

3. johninu munpe ram vannu

john+acc before ram come+past

Ram came before john

  1. enne sampandichu athu anaavashyam aanu

I+acc according to that useless be

That is useless according to me

  1. Sitaye ozhichu ellavareym kandu

Sita+acc except for all see+past

Saw everyone except for sita.

Genitive

  1. njaan johninte koode pookunnu

I john+gen with go+fut

I am going with john.

  1. avan shatrukkalude nadukku aanu

he enemies+gen amidst be

he is amidst his enemies

  1. njaan avalude purakil ninnu

I she+gen behind stand+past

I stood behind her

  1. book meshayude mukalil aanu

book table+gen on be

Book is on the table

Dative

  1. john marykku vendi book vangichu

john mary+dat for book buy+past

john bought a book for mary

  1. enikku pakaram avan varum

I+dat in place of he come+fut

He will come in place of me

From the above data, we can conclude that all Malayalam postpositions are conditioned by the case it’s previous noun takes. It also has been noticed that some postpositions occur after the nouns that take more than one cases. It can also be because of the semantic roles these postpositions play in the language.

Postpositions / English Correspondence / Semantic role
1. koodathe / without, apart from,besides / Manner related,content
2. ozhichu / Except for,besides / Manner related,content
3. patti / about / Manner related,content
4. Kurichu / about / Manner related,content
5. poole / As,like / Manner related,content
6. munpu/pinpu / before / Temporal, locational
7. sambandichu / According to / Manner related,content
8. koode / With,along,including / Manner related,content
9. nadukku / Amidst,between, in the middle of, among / Spatial, locational
10. chuttum / around / Spatial, locational
11. purakil / behind / locational
12. adiyil / Under,below,beneath,down / Locational, spatial
13. thaazhe / Under,below,beneath,down / Locational, spatial
14. arikil / Beside,near / locational
15. purathu / On,upon,above,on top of, / Locational , spatial
16. mukalil / On,upon,above,on top of,up / Locational spatial
17. kuruke / across / Directional
18. aduthu / Beside,near / Locational ,spatial
19. ethire / against / casual
20. idayil / between / Comparative,spatial
21. shesham / After,next / Temporal
22. appuram / Beyond,after / Locational , casual
23. munpe / Prior to,ahead of / Temporal, locational
24. munnil / In front of / Temporal, locational
25. ullil / In,inside,towards / Locational, spatial, directional,destination
26. akathu / In,inside / Locational, spatial
27. vendi / for / casual
28. pakaram / In place of / casual
29. muthal / From / Directional, source, destination
30. thottu / From,since / Directional, source, destination
31. ninnu / From / Directional, source, destination
32. vare / Till, until / Directional, destination

In the table above is a sum up of the semantic roles play by the Malayalam postpositions.